The gem of Alaska’s Constitution is Article 4 on the Judiciary, a model in the United States. It has given the people of our state an exemplary court system, which has not been corrupted by money or by politics as those of many other jurisdictions.

Key to the quality of Alaska’s model court system has been the Judicial Council, which has assured that only the most qualified individuals would be appointed by the governor as a judge or justice.

This holiday season, I have been incredibly grateful for all the Alaskans who are working to defend our resource wealth. In the 60 years since I worked alongside many great Alaska leaders to draft our constitution, I’ve never seen such an outpouring of support for our Alaska values.

Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who gathered petitions to put repeal of the oil giveaway on the ballot. Thank you to the 50,000 Alaskans who signed the petition. Thanks to you, we can vote yes on Proposition One in the August primary.